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St. Augustine, Florida - Randy Crabtree and his teammate Roy Boone made a three hour run south from St. Augustine in Crabtree's triple Mercury engine Donzi, fished for just 15 minutes and landed a 43.90 pound king mackerel. "That was a good fish," said Crabtree when he arrived back an hour early at the St. Augustine City Marina. "When you catch a king this size in the Kingbuster you come to the scale."
   Later that evening the dock chatter had Crabtree winning the twin Mercury engine 23 foot Fountain boat sitting on a Loadmaster Trailer, considering the extremely weak leader board after day one. He was even getting phone calls with congratulations. Was it that cut and dry? Not according to Lon Bryan, Andy Miska, and Thomas Cowan fishing the 23 foot Yamaha powered Contender, Southbound in the opening event for Division Fives '06 season.
   After running south on day one and receiving a 24.70 for their efforts, the trio decided to return to an area north named the Elton Bottom that gave up a winning fish a couple of weeks earlier in the Sapelo tournament in Georgia. "We just got lucky" said Bryn sitting on his boat waiting for the scales to open. "This one is long fish, pointing to his fish bag, but doesn't have the girth it needs to win the event, but we think it will be close.
   When weigh master Jim Blaylock announced, "the scales are now open", Bryan told Deona Holmes she would have to wait for her picture, "this fish was just too close," and the team were off, up the gang plank fish bag in hand. All three team members gathered around the scale waiting for the biologist to check the king. On the scale it went, flickering between 43.95 and 44 pounds. When the scale settled they had the Vamoose beat by just one tenth of a pound. A stunning and great end to a superior executed event.
   Later that evening, Reggie Fountain himself, heralding their victory, presented the Southbound team with the keys to the boat. Reggie went on to praise the SKA, Don and Roger Combs and their Kingbuster 400 staff, and everyone who fished, plus pledged his continued support to the great event. Crabtree settled for the second place $10,000 cash prize plus other prizes.
   " We caught that fish at 10 o'clock," said Cowan. "We had a double hook up, and not knowing the size of either fish, we landed a 30 pounder first. We caught it on a goggle eye that we purchased before the start of the day and were fishing in 110 feet of water."
   Third place went to a non member who caught a nice 42 pound king on day two.
   At the end of the first days fishing the leader board looked pretty dismal. Lots of  snakes but the resiliency of the fishermen paid off on day two with four of the top six fish being caught plus the top team in Class of 23, Pete Eldridge's Square and Level.
    Pete and Schley Eldridge fished the beach on day one and came away with a goose
egg ."  When beach fishing gives you nothing you head offshore," said Pete who won the $5,000 for the Class top prize. We were in 100' of water and caught our 38.25 king on a ribbonfish down deep. We saw a lot of fish, a big difference from day one." Eldridge has been a consistent top five finisher over the years in both Division 4 and 5. He fishes a Yamaha powered Contender.
   Carl Pecora loves fishing the Kingbuster. After the entire event is held in his home town and Carl has managed to do well in the event. "We went south on day one but had nothing to show for our efforts but we decided to go back on day two," said Pecora who fishes with Kevin Omera on his 23 foot Mercury powered Baha. " We ran a hundred miles south but no action so we picked up and ran back to the Flagler Pier. We put out a spread of Goggle eyes, runners, and mullet. She ate the mullet 20 feet below the surface right after they got their spread set. Their king showed 37.45 pounds on the scale good for fourth place. "We couldn't be happier. We want to return to Fort Pierce in November."
   Steve Lucie gave up his Intrepid and bought a Yellowfin. "I loved my Intrepid but build time on a new one just didn't fit my schedule," said Lucie who fishes with Andy Pettit and Ryland Lucie. He christened the new ride with a fifth place finish. "We went south to a hard bottom area between Daytona and Canaveral. The temperature was right and there was lots of bait. We were in 60 feet of water and caught her on a goggle eye." The king tipped the scales at 36.20 pounds.
   Tommy Anderson ran the Optima Batteries boat into sixth place with a 35.50 he and Eric Faulk and David Vining caught fishing the Canaveral area. "We came out the area pretty good considering there were eight other boats around us," said Vining who caught the king on day one. "We were fishing in 60 feet of water and she ate a blue runner."
   Seventh place went to a non member.
   The Beer Money team, who had a great season last year, caught a 33.55 to capture eighth. Chris Stephens, Jerry Richardson, and Joey Kaylor told me before the event started that they wished they had their old boat back. The new one was not catching fish. I assured them it was not the boat and to show some patience. I was right. They fished offshore Matannsas in 73 feet of water and caught their fish on a flat lined ribbonfish. They're in the hunt to return to the Nationals.
   Ninth place went to Tim Beasley's Reel Attitude with a 33.20 while Kenny Crawford's The Real Yellow Pages picked up tenth with a 30.35.
   Greg Peters and Benny Hendrix ended the 30 pound streak with a 30.05 good enough to pick up third place money in the Class of 23. They fish a Yamaha powered Contender.
   335 boats fished the event this year and gave us the closest finish ever in the long history of the tournament. It was certainly the best event the Kingbuster has had in the past few years. Congratulations to everyone who made the event one of the best in the country.

Kingbuster Final Standings

1.   SOUTHBOUND.......................... 44.00
      Contender/Yamaha
      Lon Bryan
      Andy Miska
      Thomas Cowan

2.   VAMOOSE................................. 43.90
      Donzi/Mercury
      Randy Crabtree
      Roy Boone
      Chris Crabtree

3.   Hot Pursuit............................. 42.45

4.   ALL IN..................................... 37.45
      Baha/Mercury
      Carl Pecora
      Kevin Omera

5.   MELLOW YELLOW.................... 36.20
      Yellowfin/Yamaha
      Steve Lucie
      Ryland Lucie
      Andy Pettit

6.   TEAM OPTIMA BATTERIES....... 35.50
      Island Runner/Mercury
      Tommy Anderson
      Eric Faulk
      David Vining

7.   Crazy Crab.............................. 33.85

8.   BEER MONEY............................ 33.55
      Fountain/Mercury
      Chris Stephens
      Jerry Richardson
      Joey Kaylor

9.   REEL ATTITUDE....................... 32.20
      Hydra Sport/Yamaha
      Tim Beasley

10. THE REAL YELLOW PAGES....... 30.35
      Contender/Yamaha
      Kenny Crawford
      Doreen Fletcher
      Bill Walsh
      Chris Bazemore

11. STEVES SEAFOOD................... 29.75
      SeaStrike/Yamaha
      Steve Riley
      Daniel Leonard
      Leslie Riley
      Gaberial Riley

12. ME TOO................................... 29.35
      Key West/Yamaha
      John R. Albritton
      Bret Rinnert

13. Dog House.............................. 29.15

14. Mongoose............................... 29.10

15. The Rookie............................. 28.70

16. TEAM DOUBLE DOWN.............. 28.45
      Fountain/Mercury
      Brett Taylor
      Chriss Taylor
      Randy Truitt

17. FINAL APPROVAL.................... 27.80
      Donzi/Mercury
      Jeff Parsons
      Dan Shore
      Brannon Shore

18. Jordan.................................... 27.65

19. C.R.A.P. HAPPENS................... 27.65
      Contender/Yamaha
      Robert McRanie
      Karla Dowd
      Cody McRanie
      Bill Chancy
      Chris Chancy

20. PRIVATEER.............................. 27.65
      Privateer/Mercury
      John Harrison
      Jim Harrison
     Cas Dickerson

 

CLASS OF 23

1.  SQUARE & LEVEL..................... 38.25
      Contender/Yamaha
      Pete Eldridge
      Schley Eldridge

2.   Fish On................................... 30.60

3.   RAE - JEN................................ 30.05
      Contender/Yamaha
      Greg Peters
      Benny Hendrix 

Weather partly cloudy both days.

Day one winds out of the south west, seas 2 to 3 feet.
Day two winds out of the south east,   seas 2 to 4 feet.